


Encores are for Losers

by FallFell



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Anger, Fluff, Gender-neutral Reader, Losing Battles, Pokemon, Pokemon Sword and Shield - Freeform, Rivals to Lovers, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-24 12:00:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30071919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FallFell/pseuds/FallFell
Summary: After living your whole life in the Galar region, you feel it's finally time to take on the Gym Challenge. One gym leader in particular gets on your nerves a lot more than the others.
Relationships: Nezu | Piers (Pokemon)/Reader
Kudos: 7





	1. Introduction

You have lived in Galar for your whole life in the small town of Wedgehurst. You spent a while training your Pokémon before considering even attempting to get an endorsement. You've done your fair share of research for the current gym leaders and their strategies. Though you didn't think it would be impossible to defeat all eight gym leaders. it would certainly be challenging. After a bit more training, you sought to get an endorsement from anyone qualified.

Lucky for you, during your training in Motostoke, the gym leader Kabu took interest in your battle and stuck around to watch. He admired your determination and the strength of your Pokemon. After the battle with the trainer, which you won by the skin of your teeth, Kabu approached you and asked you if you would like to be endorsed for the Gym Challenge. Your jaw dropped, and you swore you were dreaming. "You're clearly very passionate about battling, and you seem well versed in it as well. I would love to see how far you can get in the challenge."

"Of course! I would love to!" you replied, not bothering to hide your excitement.

"Stay here. I'll return in a moment," the gym leader said before jogging off. He returned soon afterwards with a slip of paper in hand. You gracefully took the paper and stared down at the endorsement. Once you came to your senses, you thanked Kabu immensely. 

Kabu gave a warm smile. "The entrance ceremony is two weeks from now. Be sure to be there," he advised.

You nodded quickly, thanked him again, and ran home to tell your parents, they gave you praise and words of encouragement. Deep inside, you weren’t quite sure how far you’d get before dropping it. You were hoping to at least make it to the fifth gym.

Two weeks passed quicker than you’d thought. There you were, standing in Motostoke stadium, waiting anxiously for the ceremony to begin. God, there were so many challengers here. Most of them looked to be your age of older teenagers and young adults, but there were two kids there. One looked very similar to the champion, and the other looked to be a typical girl you’d find anywhere. You shook your head; it was best not to think about it. Before long, it was announced that the ceremony was starting and you and the rest of your rivals were sent out to the stadium field.

Once you were standing in the open field, you finally realized how large the field really was. You’d sat in the bleachers of these stadiums before, but being on the field was a completely new experience.

In the center of the field stood seven gym leaders, you frown your eyebrows in confusion and count again and again. It took only a few moments before you realized Piers was the missing gym leader. Why wouldn’t he arrive to one of the most important events of the year? It was awfully irresponsible to neglect his duties as a gym leader like that, though you supposed you couldn’t judge him for that.

The rest of the ceremony came and went seamlessly, you have no idea how you managed to keep your nerves down. You felt better seeing some of the other contestants looking just as or even more nervous than you were. As you exited the stadium, you took a deep breath to refill your confidence. The challenge couldn’t be that bad, right?


	2. Locked In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You enter Spikemuth with high hopes, but those hopes are crushed once you realize you can't leave this city until the entrance re opens. Maybe it isn't all bad, though.

There you stood in front of Spikemuth. Weeks had passed since the opening ceremony and you’d led nothing but a path of victory behind you. Some gyms gave you a problem, but you collected six gym badges so far, so now it was time for the seventh. The Pokemon in this gym were unable to Dynamax, but Piers remained to be a difficult leader nonetheless. You walked into the city, hearing a loud crash from behind you. You jumped and turned to see what could have made that noise. In place of the beautiful scenery of route nine was a giant metal gate. With your heart still pounding out of your chest you took a few steps back. What the hell was this about? You then heard two people talking from behind you, so you turned to see the faces of the two talking.

Two Team Yell grunts were facing each other. The woman’s arms were folded while the man was cowering in fear. “You idiot! Why didn’t you close it sooner?” the female grunt asked.

“I . . . forgot?” the man said. The other grunt simply scoffed.

“Well, we have to get them out before-”

“Oi, what’s all this ruckus about?” asked a voice you could have sworn you swear you’d heard before. Emerging from the neon lights came a tall man with spiky hair and a lanky body, Piers. No wonder the voice was familiar, you’d watched his post-match interviews to learn a bit more about the man you’d eventually be battling. Both grunts had the same expression of terror on their faces.

“We were just-” the woman began.

“Trying to-” the other said.

With the shake of his head, Piers placed his face in his hands. “You goons, how is anyone s’posed to battle the gym now?” “Well.” the male grunt began, staring at the floor like a scolded child, “that was… kind of the point.” Piers raised his head up again and groaned. You finally noticed how tired he really looks. “Are you the reason why I haven’t been gettin’ any challengers?” he asked. He didn’t even give the grunts a second to answer. “I want this gate open by tomorrow mornin’, and I don’t need you scarin’ off challengers anymore! We hardly get any visitors as is.”

The grunts nodded their heads and mumbled some apologies before running off. With a sigh, Piers turned to you. “‘M sorry ‘bout all that,” he said, holding out his hand for a handshake. You greet his hands with yours and give a firm shake. First impressions are everything, after all. You give Piers your name and he looks up in thought for a moment. “That name sounds familiar… are you a gym challenger by any chance?”

You nod. “Yeah. I’m actually here to challenge your gym next.” To confirm yourself, you pull out your ring of gym badges. It only takes Piers a moment to look over them.

“Congratulations on getting this far, but be warned, not many get past me.” Though his tone hadn’t changed much, you sensed a strangely dreadful connotation behind those words. This only made you more determined to defeat the Dark type gym leader. “Come battle me any time,” he said. “You might be the only challenger I have for a while, so you better make it good.” Without another word, Piers turned and left towards the inner city of Spikemuth.

You decided to take the rest of the day to give yourself and your Pokemon a break. You’d been training hard with your team lately, and travelling across most of the Galar region was tiring. You found a small and cheap motel to stay at for the night. The next day was surely going to be a pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for making these first few chapters so short, I promise they'll get longer as we get further into the plot. Otherwise, thanks for reading!


	3. Another Way Out

You woke up mid morning the next day feeling overly confident in yourself. You sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from your eyes with a small yawn. You got out of bed and rummaged through your bag. Luckily for you, you’d brought along a couple outfits so you wouldn’t have to wear the same outfit two days in a row. Despite this fact, you immediately put on your gym uniform, as you were dead set on getting the seventh badge and leaving Spikemuth as soon as possible.

After a quick once over in the mirror, you left the motel room and headed straight for the city’s gym. You had to admit, the aesthetic of the city wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but you didn’t like how dark it was all the time.

Once you arrived at the gym, you were stopped by a Team Yell grunt. “Aren’t ya the challenger that got through our gates yesterday?” he asked.

“Yes?” you replied.

The grunt gave a small snicker. “That’s too bad for you. The gate’s jammed and we don’t know how to get it back open.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “What do you mean? Am I going to be stuck here then?”

“Seems like it,” the grunt said without a care. “Good luck trying to beat Piers. The gate’ll be open before you even get close to beating his first Pokemon.”

You rolled your eyes and pressed forward into the alleyway that led to the battle area. Though your confidence hadn’t faltered, you were still a bit worried about the battle. Many people had mentioned how difficult it was to obtain the seventh gym badge despite Dynamaxing not being a factor here. You shook your head as you saw the first training coming into view. If trainers in other regions could get gym badges without Dynamaxing, so could you.

You got through the absurd amount of grunts with ease. As you approached the battle grounds, you could hear the intense rock music getting louder and louder. Was Piers performing? You found it a bit odd, but then again everything in this place was odd. You stepped into the stadium. It was much smaller than you had expected it to be, and there was a stage there, too. Piers was on the stage with a dozen or two grunts cheering him on.

Piers looked up from his microphone and his eyes locked onto yours. He finished up his song with ease, the crowd cheering even louder. The gym leader jumped from the stage, microphone stand in hand. You approached him without an ounce of fear in your body. Piers looked just like he did the day before. How could a voice with so much energy belong to this man who constantly looked tired. “You ready to battle?” he asked, shaking you from your thoughts.

“‘Course I am,” you said.

With a quick nod, Piers placed his microphone stand in front of him. “Just so you know, I don’t do encores.”

Before you had time to respond, a song similar to what was playing when you first entered began playing. It was different from anything you’d heard in the previous gym battles.

“Scrafty, show ‘em your Intimidate ability!” Piers called out as he threw a Pokeball, letting out his Scrafty.

You were already cursing internally, throwing out your first Pokemon. You made sure your team had a decent amount of Fighting type attacks to use, but Intimidate already put a hole in your plan. You barely managed to knock out his Scrafty, however, Piers didn’t look too worried.

He threw another Pokeball, revealing his Malamar. “Blow ‘em away with your Contrary, Malamar!”

You bit the inside of your cheek. ‘Well son of a bitch!’ you thought. The Malamar easily took out two of your six Pokemon. Your third is what finally took out the damn thing, but it was only going to be more difficult from there.

“Scare the opponent away with your Toxic, Skuntank!” Piers threw out his third Pokemon and immediately used its Toxic. Within only a few moves, your third Pokemon succumbed to the poison and fainted. You weren’t getting desperate just yet, but as you defeated the Skuntank, it took out your fourth Pokemon with its Aftermath ability. You were down to just two Pokemon against Piers’s ace.

With a smirk, Piers grabbed his final Pokemon. “Encores are for losers, y’know. What’s the point in doing the same thing twice?” he said as he threw out his Obstagoon. “Obstagoon, end this battle with your high roar!”

You gripped your fifth Pokeball and threw it out. You were beginning to get anxious. You’d had many close calls before, so you could do this, right? However, you hadn’t accounted for Obstagoon’s Obstruct, so your fifth Pokemon fainted pretty quickly after unintentionally raising the opposing Pokemon’s stats. You let out your sixth and final Pokemon. You were beginning to shake a bit, and before you knew it, it was over.

You lost.

As you returned your fainted Pokemon to its ball, you stared off into the distance, the loud cheers of the grunts filling your mind. You tried to shake it off. It’s not like you could leave this place immediately anyway, and you could just battle Piers the next day, so what the hell was wrong with you?

Right before you reached an answer, Piers approached you with a slight smile.

“That battle wasn’t half bad. Though, I did hear from around town that the gate is stuck.” He clicked his tongue. “Tell ya what, challenger. If you give it your best in a battle against me, I’ll show you a way out.”

With that, you felt an indescribable anger fill you. “I did! I did the best I could! I-”

“No, you didn’t. You’ve got better potential in you than that. I’ve seen you battle before,” he said with the shake of his head.

You dug your nails into your palm. You wanted to fight back, but you just couldn’t. Piers was right. You took him and his abilities for granted, and you lost because of it.

You were taken out of your thoughts by a hand touching your shoulder. You looked up to see the gym leader looking down at you. “Don’t get down on yourself now. Not many people face me in their first time doing this challenge. In all honesty, you had me a bit nervous there for a second.”

You turned your head to the side. You didn’t want to hear his pity. You wanted to be mad at him, but you just couldn’t. Besides, one loss wasn’t the end of the world. You could just try again tomorrow, and that was just what you were going to do. You grabbed Piers’s wrist and took it off your shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and it’ll be the last time I see you, too.”

Piers let out a short laugh. “Now that’s the spirit.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work, so I'm still figuring stuff out.. Constructive criticism is very welcome! I'll update as often as I can.


End file.
